BRITISH ARMY COLOURS by Mike Starmer

[Stefano]

BRITISH ARMY COLOURS by Mike Starmer.

 

OK, I've been asked to write a review about these excellent booklets, so here we are.

 

An infuriating aspect of military vehicle books to the restorer is a generally cavalier disregard for chronological order in the use of original photographs, and the use of photographs of restored vehicles manage to confuse the issue even further, seeing as there is no guarantee that the vehicle in question has been repainted correctly in the first place. As a result, a somewhat "free for all" attitude has grown, under the belief that units basically painted their vehicles as they pleased, and although this may well have happened from time to time, these instances are exceptions to a rule, rather than the rule itself.

 

Basically, what the author sets out to do is chart the development of British military vehicle camouflage schemes during the second world war, and quite understandably, in order to avoid confusing matters, he has broken his research down into four volumes:-

 

Vol. 1 - Desert Colours; The Caunter Scheme 1940 - 1941

Vol. 2 - Desert Colours; Alamein and After 1942 - 1943

Vol. 3 - Middle East Colours; Sicily and Italy 1943 - 1945

Vol. 4 - British Army Colours and Disruptive Colours in the United Kingdom, France and N:W Europe 1936 - 1945

 

The books contain the General Orders for camouflage of the various theatres of war, complete with the original diagrams, which are then bolstered by the authors' research. Thankfully, what emerges (with admittedly a bit of a grey area from the end of 1941 to the beginning of 1942) is a pattern in the way camouflage schemes succeeded one another during the course of the war, and miraculously, all those black an white photos of my Morris's start to make sense (and dare I say a lot of colour photos of restored vehicles cease to!)

Another good point is that where the author has made an educated guess, he says so, and also takes the time to tell you why. Excellent.

The books also include paint samples of each colour mentioned, complete with mixing proportions, and although the mixes are made up from modelling enamels, it would be an easy enough job to make some of the desired colour up that way and then get it matched by an automotive paint supplier, bearing in mind that a certain amount of leeway (but not too much!) is more than acceptable, given the varying nature of paint supply during the war.

Obviously, when restoring a particular vehicle, there are any number of details that cannot be covered by a book like this (I'm thinking of the standard factory camouflage finishes of certain vehicles that sometimes didn't always adhere to the letter of General Orders, for example), but this is a great starting point.

As you can gather, I liked these books a lot, they make a fascinating read, and I recommend them thoroughly.

 

The author sells them direct, and can be contacted at:-

 

mike_starmer@hotmail.com

 

The usual disclaimers, don't know the author, never met him, didn't go to school with him, won't get a percentage, etc, etc.

 

All the Best,

 

Stefano

 

[LeeEnfield]

:-) Many Thanks, Stefano.

 

Looks like I'm going to get Vol 4.

 

All the best,

 

Andy